When the World of Hyatt Credit Card launched a few months ago, one of the awesome new perks is a free Category 1-4 free night after $15K spend per cardmember year. That’s in addition to the annual free night at anniversary and the points earned on your spend (which would be at least enough for a third night at a Category 4 hotel since they charge 15K points per night). At the Chicago Seminars this past weekend, someone suggested a post about the best places to use a Hyatt Category 1-4 certificate within the US. Here it is.
Of course, “the best” place to use a free night certificate is a place where you need to stay on a night when you need a room. That is to say that saving your certificate with the hopes to use it at a place on a “best of” certificate is not as good a use for it as when you have an opportunity to save real cash on a night you need.
That said, in an effort to answer the question as to best places to use the certificates, I created a spreadsheet to do some comparison. For the purposes of the post, I am only comparing Category 4 Hyatts since these would be the top use of a certificate in terms of getting maximum point value.
In order to compare the 43 Category 4 Hyatt properties within the US, I decided to search room rates for three random dates: December 15 (a Saturday during winter), April 9th (a random Tuesday in Spring), and June 15th (a Saturday during summer). In cases where a hotel was not available on one of these days, I picked another similar day as best I could. Note that I compared to the best flexible rate since points are generally flexible. Prepaid rates are of course lower.
I then averaged the rate between those three data points for each hotel. While far from a perfect measurement, this gave me some sort of idea as to a general relative value. Here are the top 10 Category 4 Hyatt properties in the US in terms of cash rates spread across a date in winter, spring, and summer.
Hotel |
December 15 |
April 9 |
June 15 |
Average |
|
|
134 | 411 | 316 | 287 |
|
|
220 | 252 | 414 | 295.3333333 |
|
|
284 | 329 | 309 | 307.3333333 |
|
|
289 | 329 | 329 | 315.6666667 |
|
Hyatt Place Nashville Downtown
|
228 | 380 | 351 | 319.6666667 |
|
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Overlooking Boston
|
144 | 541 | 275 | 320 |
|
Hyatt Centric South Beach Miami
|
239 | 470 | 276 | 328.3333333 |
|
Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf San Francisco
|
174 | 424 | 394 | 330.6666667 |
|
|
166 | 490 | 490 | 382 |
|
Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa
|
401 | 662 | 245 | 436 |
Of course, you should also consider the list as it matches up to your travel plans and keep in mind that I used three isolated dates.
Despite somewhat lower room rates, I thought a couple of other places were worth an honorable mention: Hyatt Regency Chicago, Andaz Savannah, and Hyatt at Olive 8 in Seattle all seemed worth a mention as room rates in those cities can sometimes be quite high.
Bottom line
These are the most expensive Category 4 Hyatt hotels over a random three dates over the next year. Does that make them the “best” hotels? Hardly. But it may make them some of the best values for Category 1-4 free night certificates.
What is your favorite Cat 1-4 Hyatt in the United States?
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Hyatt Centric in the shopping village at The Woodlands (north of Houston) is a nice stay for easy access to retail/restaurants/movie theater. Have used around the holidays as a base for dropping off Christmas gifts after purchase while shopping. Is recently renovated & is an anchor to the urban village.
+1
Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort near San Antonio is also a very nice Cat. 4 redemption
+1
agreed +1
[…] Best US Locations To Use Hyatt Free Night: If you’re a Hyatt cardholder, you get a free night certificate to use at category 1-4 hotels. Of course, the list in this article doesn’t include all possible options, however it’s helpful to know the higher quality properties where you can get a free night. […]
The Hyatt Place Nashville is in a great location, walking distance to Johnny Cash Museum, Dining, Music Venues. It’s very pricey to stay in this area. Free breakfast is a plus!
The Hyatt Centric Santa Barbara is a dump. It has been re-branded by the company so many times its now a joke. Prices are high because its Santa Barbara. It’s the lowest rated branded hotel in all of Santa Barbara on TA.
Somehow you’ll frequently find the two Hyatt Regency in Boston (the one in Harbor and the one in the city center) sell in less than $100/N on Priceline. Though that doesn’t reflect their demands during the peak periods, I just feel their facilities do not worth their peak prices.
Hyatt at Olive8 in Seattle was a fantastic property. They treat Globalist very well with a huge suite and great indoor pool for laps.
Hyatt Regency Grand Cyprus, at Walt Disney World. No resort fee with Hyatt status, but you pay $22 for parking. Many activities onsite are included: bikes, kayaks, rock wall for example. Nice swimming pools and fitness room. Tasty restaurants and you are greeted by a red macaw that lives in the lobby area.
Hyatt Olive 8 is a great hotel in Seattle. Perfect location, amazing restaurant (if you are a Globalist, the free breakfast is a nice perk here). The Hyatt Waikiki Beach is also a very nice hotel in a great location where I have used the certificate. It’s not a resort, but if you are only staying 1-2 nights in Honolulu, it is a solid choice. About a 1 block walk to the beach. I’m trying out the Hyatt in Keystone, Colorado this winter for a weekend snowmobile trip. Again, not a full resort, but perfect for a short free stay!
+1 on the Hyatt Place Waikiki.
Could you please post the best category 1-4 (most likely just 4) Marriott hotels OUTSIDE of the USA? I just spent 5 days in Sheraton Oman and it was AMAZING! Need couple more inspirations, one of them is also a category 4 hotel – Renaissance Bali Uluwatu Resort & Spa which I might book due to stellar reviews and scenery.
Give Nick a break and look it up yourself.
I’ll be using mine for our annual family trip to Hyatt Place Delray Beach. Category 3; but average of $352 per night.
Very useful list. Thank you for putting together all of this information.
Grand Cypress Orlando
My wife and I are using our two certificates for the Hyatt Centric South Beach in April. Glad to see it made your list. Now I feel even better about my redemption. Yes, you have helped to validate my Hyatt certificate use.
Grand Hyatt DFW, America’s best airport hotel, is a great redemption. The Centurion Lounge is just a short walk away too for free food!